Rickie Lambert feels he is due a goal as he returns to the Club who he scored 29 times for last season.

Having reached 32 in all competitions this season, (26 in the league) he has hit a relatively dry spell in recent matches, so the number seven is concentrating his efforts on finding the back of the net against his former side.

"I haven't scored for three games," he acknowledged on Saints Player. "But I haven't gone any longer than that this season, so hopefully I can start scoring again on Tuesday and that's all I'm focusing on, scoring in every game. Bristol Rovers is the next game, so I want to score.

"It's a game I think we're pleased to have. They're above us and we're chasing them, so there's no better way to catch them then by playing them and hopefully beating them, because if we do that we go above them with a game in hand. We've got to go into it the same way we have been going into the last dozen games - fully focused on getting the result.

"They beat us in the league at our place so we know what they're capable of, and we'll fully respect them. We know that they can beat us but we know that we can beat them as well, so we're going to go there confident and hopefully we can be the ones that win on the day.

"When I was there I used to love playing there, it's an intimidating place for other teams to come because the fans make a great atmosphere, we know to expect that, although it might be a bit more intense than it was last time, but I think we've got the players here that can handle that."

Rickie revealed that the banter has already begun with his ex-teammates, but the striker admits he still has a lot of respect for the staff and the fans at Rovers.

"I spoke to some of their lads a couple of weeks' back and said how much I was looking forward to coming up and playing against them I haven't seen them since the last time we played there so it will be nice to see everyone again.

"I got a good reception when I went back (in the FA Cup) so I'm hoping it'll be much the same this time. I had a great time there and I have some great memories, so it will be good to go back."

"I don't think I will celebrate if I score. I'll be pleased inside because it could be a very important goal, but out of respect to the Bristol Rovers fans I don't think I'll be celebrating."

Three more points for Saints on Tuesday could further shorten the gap to the top six, but Lambert believes that only winning every game until the end of the season is going to fulfil the ambition of a play-off place.

"We can't hide what we're aiming for and what we're hoping for. It's gone well in the last couple of weeks, but there's no reason why one of the teams above us won't go on a three game winning run, so we've got to prepare for that by just focusing on ourselves.

"There are not a lot of games left and we are looking for slip ups from other teams, but we've just got to focus on ourselves and if we do that then I think there's a good chance of getting to where we want to go.

"All our focus is on tomorrow and after that it will be on the next game, but we can't have any slip ups ourselves. Bristol Rovers is perhaps the hardest game that we've got left and the other teams have got tougher run-ins than us. We can't focus on what others are doing though, if we do our job and don't get in then fair enough, but if we slip up then it's down to luck and we can't afford to do that."